Over the past few weeks, we’ve explored some of the most debated issues in EU digital policy: dark patterns, addictive design, digital advertising, and subscription cancellations. These discussions often lead to calls for new legislation. But one message has been clear throughout this series: Europe doesn’t need more rules; it needs to make the existing ones work.
What We’ve Learned
Across each topic, we found that:
- The regulatory framework is already extensive. From the GDPR and DSA to the Consumer Rights Directive and UCPD, the rules are in place.
- The lack of consumer protection rules is not the problem, enforcement is. Where users still face friction or harm, it’s due to gaps in how laws are enforced, not what they say.
- Overregulation risks harming innovation. Prescriptive design bans, overlapping obligations, and conflicting interpretations raise compliance costs, especially for responsible businesses.
- European tech companies put consumers at the heart of their business. Many already go beyond legal requirements to protect users. What they need is legal clarity and consistent enforcement, not additional red tape.
Enforcement is the Missing Link
The tools to address misleading designs, addictive designs or unclear subscription terms exist.
What’s missing is
✔ Practical guidance from the European Commission to clarify how laws interact
✔ Alignment among national regulators to avoid fragmentation and confusion, within and between Member States
✔ A Single Market for enforcement
✔ Open dialogue between businesses and authorities before turning to sanctions
The Path Forward
If the EU wants to build a fair, competitive, and user-friendly digital environment, it must:
✔ Strengthen cooperation between enforcement bodies
✔ Promote digital literacy to empower users
✔ Resist the urge to legislate for every new trend or re-branding of an old concept
✔ Focus on outcomes, not formats — innovation must be part of the solution
Final Word
We don’t need to reinvent the rulebook. We need to make the existing rules work better. That means cutting through complexity, enforcing fairly, and giving both consumers and businesses the clarity they need.
The goal is clear: smarter enforcement, not heavier regulation, to create a fair digital environment for consumers and a competitive digital economy.
Digital fairness isn’t about passing more laws, it’s about making the existing ones work better.
About the European Tech Alliance
EUTA represents leading European tech companies that provide innovative products and services to more than one billion users. Our 33 EUTA member companies from 15 European countries are popular and have earned the trust of consumers. As companies born and bred in Europe, for whom the EU is a crucial market, we have a deep commitment to European citizens and values.
With the right conditions, our companies can strengthen Europe’s resilience and technological autonomy, protect and empower users online, and promote Europe’s values of transparency, rule of law and innovation to the rest of the world.
The EUTA calls for boosting Europe’s tech competitiveness by having an ambitious EU tech strategy to overcome growth obstacles, making a political commitment to clear, targeted and risk-based rules, and enforcing rules consistently to match the globalised market we are in.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Victoria de Posson, EUTA Secretary General
E-mail: victoria@eutechalliance.eu
E-mail: info@eutechalliance.eu
Phone: +32 476 25 08 16
www.eutechalliance.eu
